NBA Franchise Notes: Warriors Owner Inactive At Trade Deadline

February 25, 2011

CSNBAYAREA.com's Matt Steinmetz wrote the “Joe Lacob Era is off to a bad start.” It "might not be entirely fair and it might not be all his fault, but the NBA is a results-oriented league and so far Lacob hasn't backed up his confident early ownership talk with appropriate and meaningful action." Lacob “didn't make a deadline deal to improve the Warriors” before the NBA’s trade deadline. Steinmetz: “What makes Thursday so disappointing -- and, yes, demoralizing -- for a lot of Warriors fans is that it was Lacob who came in and talked about making a ‘big splash’ and doing ‘bold’ things” (CSNBAYAREA.com, 2/24). In San Jose, Tim Kawakami writes since taking over the team, the differences between Lacob and former Owner Chris Cohan "remain largely hypothetical." Kawakami: “Lacob's Warriors still overpay underperforming players. Still are stuck without many options for big upgrades. And still seem slightly more determined to do a sales job than a total refurbishing” (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 2/25).

DECLINE IN VALUE? In Detroit, Gregg Krupa notes a “day before the most recent deadline for negotiating the sale of the Pistons, there was no word of an agreement Thursday amid continuing talks.” But there is “more evidence of the declining value of NBA franchises, a looming issue for the league that affects the discussions about the Pistons.” Sources said that the value of the Cavaliers “declined from about $375 million to $275 million this year” after the departure of LeBron James. NBA owners have said that they are “losing money and that the players’ union must accept significant concessions that amount to a new model of ownership if the league is to re-establish its profitability” (DETROIT NEWS, 2/25).

MARKET DEMAND: In Minneapolis, John Vomhof Jr. reported the T’Wolves have launched a “new dynamic pricing system for single-game tickets in which prices will rise and fall” based on availability and demand. The system, Wolves Tix, starts with the March 1 game against the Lakers. The concept is “designed to mimic the secondary market where scalpers move prices up and down based on supply and demand.” The technology behind the program “gives the Wolves the ability to alter prices daily,” but team officials said that they “only plan to make changes every couple of days at first” (BIZJOURNALS.com, 2/24).

ON THE MARK: Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban criticized the Hornets’ trade for Carl Landry, noting the club should not be adding salary since it is owned by the league.” ESPN's Michael Wilbon said all the owners “probably do have a beef if they see a team they're subsidizing going more over the cap to acquire somebody for the stretch run and the playoffs that they might then in turn use to defeat one of those owners.” Kornheiser said, “The league is subsidizing this team and he feels fairly enough to say, 'Hey, wait a second. This is my money, this is everybody's money. We don't have a plan in place. What are we doing with this team and you're costing me money and you're hurting me personally because if I have to play them and they're better, why do I have to do that for?'" ("PTI," ESPN, 2/24).